The Power Of The Rainfall
by StanTiger
Summary: The Heartless have found a new weapon... the power to injure without injury! It makes no sense in a summary, but the story is better outlined, I promise.
1. Getting Into The Story

The Power of the Rainfall  
  
Sora looked out of the window, at the torrential rain that had started falling almost ten minutes earlier. He knew, as the Keyblade Master, that he had a job to do, protecting Traverse Town. But in this weather he wouldn't even be able to see most of the Heartless attacking him.  
  
Mind you, that was true for when he had fought Ansem too. He had had to fight groups of the things whilst saving Goofy and Donald from their prisons in the darkness. About twenty of each Heartless per cell, from Shadows, to Darkballs, to Invisibles.  
  
The Shadows and Darkballs were easy enough, even on his own. But when it came to fighting Invisibles it was difficult, even with his companions. Now that they had gone back to the Disney Castle to protect the Queen and Daisy it was even more difficult.  
  
He sighed, and went out to face the darkness awaiting him.  
  
A wave of Shadows hit Leon as he stepped into the hallway outside of the library in Hollow Bastion. One sweep of his Gunblade got rid of them, but more were heading towards him, flanked by two Defenders and backed by a huge Behemoth.  
  
He charged into the mass, dispatching the front row with a quick blast from the Gunblade and the second with an aerial sweep. The Shadows were persistent though, and four of them managed to trip him, taking a huge chunk of his health in the process. He leaped into the air and fired another blast at them, followed immediately by an aerial combo on the Behemoth. Running behind the huge beast, he managed to jump onto its back and fire from a safe position at the Defenders. These counterattacked with fire magic, but Leon blocked most of it, sending it hurtling back at them until they eventually collapsed, dropping elixirs as they disappeared. After hitting the Behemoth's horn several times, Leon hurled himself at the remaining Heartless and hit them with a Ragnarok technique, slaying them all. This left only the lumbering beast behind him. He turned to face it.  
  
A bolt of pure energy hit him in the back of the head and he fell to the ground.  
  
The Disney Castle was peaceful that day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. Donald hated it.  
  
It was like this every day. The sun shone, the birds sung, and he had to stay inside and keep guard over the castle while the Queen played cards, or chattered noisily with Daisy. He wished he had stayed with Sora, actually fighting for the worlds instead of just standing on one side of a huge door all day, keeping watch for the invaders who never came.  
  
Oh well. At least he got to talk to Goofy whenever he wanted to. This wasn't often, although they could recall memories easily when they were together. When he was alone, the adventures they'd had seemed so distant that he couldn't remember any of it. That was how dull his job was.  
  
"Aw, phooey." Donald muttered, and went into a day-long sulk.  
  
The last Heartless fell under Sora's Ultima Weapon Keyblade and rose into the air as a heart. He cast Curaga to make sure he was fully prepared for the next battalion to come his way.  
  
He stepped into the well-lit Third District and was immediately confronted by a Defender. He slew it and walked forward, only to meet three others, with two Darkballs ready to bite at the first opportunity. Casting Thundaga killed the Darkballs and the Sonic Blade finished off the Defenders easily. Sora looked around and saw an item dropped by one of them.  
  
A shield, with a black dog's face engraved into the metal. He looked at it for a while, remembering Goofy's antics throughout the adventure. He sighed again, and walked through the Fire Door leading to the house of his friend and advisor, Merlin.  
  
The first thing he heard when he woke up was completely pointless, considering he obviously knew what was said was true.  
  
"Squall, you're awake!"  
  
He groaned and looked at a clock that was beside his bed. It read 22:47.  
  
"How many times do I have to tell you, Yuffie? My name is Leon! Anyway, what happened? I was facing that Behemoth and then. wham!"  
  
"It was one of those chameleonic Heartless! It was invisible." Yuffie seemed excited for some reason. Near-death experiences of her friends didn't seem to affect her at all. Leon groaned again and tried to get out of bed.  
  
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Aerith smiled at him. "You fell off the balcony and straight into that stone dragon fountain. Your spine was all weird. It scared me."  
  
"My spine.?"  
  
"Yeah, well we did think to twist it back into shape again before using Curaga, dopey" Yuffie grinned.  
  
"Just count yourself lucky. You survived the attack. Barely." Leon rolled over to see Cloud leaning against the wall. "It's what you get for not equipping any cure magic to yourself. stupid junctioning system."  
  
"It's better than that materia stuff!" Leon protested. He immediately realized what was going to happen. He waited for the reply.  
  
"In case you haven't noticed, the only one who doesn't use materia is the one who nearly broke his back and died. That person just happens to be. you." Cloud smirked. The girls could hardly hold their giggles in after that. Leon decided to have the last word anyway.  
  
"Whatever." He said. That did it. The girls had to leave the room before they burst from holding their laughter.  
  
Goofy looked up at the sky. The clouds seemed to form a shape somewhat like Tarzan fighting against Sabor, the leopard. He remembered his time in the jungle.  
  
"What are you looking at?" Donald appeared beside him, looking in the same general direction as he was.  
  
"I was thinking, what if we found a way to join the worlds together again without muddling with the timelines of each world?"  
  
"Meddling! Anyway, it's not possible." Donald looked upset.  
  
"Do you think that cloud looks like Tarzan?" Goofy pointed.  
  
"Cloud had yellow hair, Tarzan had brow."  
  
"Not that Cloud! Those clouds!" He gestured. Donald saw this time.  
  
"Yeah, I guess so. and that one looks like a Stealth Sneak!" Donald exclaimed sarcastically, pointing at a piece of empty sky.  
  
"I don't see it, Donald."  
  
"Never mind." Donald hadn't really expected him to get the joke. Goofy tended to miss the obvious ones. They walked to the castle in silence. 


	2. Finding A Problem

"Ah! I believe Winnie was after seeing you!" Merlin exclaimed as Sora came through the door of the little hut. Sora grinned and went over to a little book, resting on a small desk beside the bed. He opened it, and immediately a bright white light surrounded him, filling the room and causing him to shield his eyes.  
  
A few seconds later, he was standing on a huge map, on two pages of the book he had previously been just looking at. He blinked a few times to clear his eyes of the brightness filling them and headed for the piece of map containing a picture of a little house. He stamped his foot, and the picture dissolved into reality.  
  
Looking around, he saw a little yellow face peeping at him through the window. It disappeared and the door opened, releasing a small yellow bear wearing a red shirt.  
  
"Hello Sora." said the bear.  
  
"Hullo Pooh. I was told you had something to tell me?" Sora replied.  
  
"Well, both the question and the answer are behind you."  
  
Sora swung round, expecting some sort of game all set up ready to play. Instead, he found himself staring straight at his reflection, in the blade of an Invisible's sword. Pooh had already scurried into the house and closed the door. Sora was on his own, noticing that behind the Invisible were several other Heartless, his trained sight telling him there were at least two Stealth Sneaks among the swarm of Wyverns, Defenders and Invisibles.  
  
Immediately he leapt into the air, swinging his Keyblade in a wide arc and striking several creatures in the process. but the Keyblade just seemed to rebound off their bodies. He fell back in shock, as he realized he was restricted by the no-violence qualities of the book.  
  
The leading Invisible struck him with its sword. It seemed these Heartless had found a way around this restriction, although he didn't see how they could have. He rolled backwards, out of the way, as the creatures advanced upon him.  
  
"I'll come back, Pooh! Promise!" Sora cried, and ran off the page. As he returned to Merlin's lab he was thinking. He needed Donald and Goofy back.  
  
"A loophole?"  
  
"Yes, Leon, a loophole." Aerith replied. "In case you haven't noticed, Stealth Sneaks don't usually appear around Hollow Bastion." She looked at him and smiled. He was normally sharp-witted, but today he seemed to be off.  
  
"So, like, how bad could this be? We just keep our eyes open for any air shimmers and we should be fine. Right?" Yuffie questioned.  
  
"Not that simple. If we're getting invaded by Stealth Sneaks, then we could have any number of Heartless trying to kill us at the same time. even the most harmless of places could turn into a zone for pain and death. And I don't mean just the follower Heartless. We could be attacked by any Heartless at any time. Even now, we're not safe." Aerith explained patiently.  
  
"You mean like that Kurt Zisa thing Sora told us about.?" Yuffie seemed scared.  
  
"Even the Kurt Zisa thing could appear. A group of Kurt Zisa things could appear. It's unlikely to happen though. Those things must be rare seeing as only one appeared throughout the whole time the keyhole was opened." Cloud shrugged. "Personally, I'd like a bit of a challenge. You gotta admit, it is pretty boring here."  
  
"You know what Sora would have said in response to that comment?" Yuffie giggled.  
  
"He would have said 'What's that supposed to mean?!'" Leon smirked. "But seriously, how can this loophole be fixed?"  
  
"There's only one way." Aeris said. The others leaned forward to hear it. "And that's to reunite the worlds, and reunite the Keyblade wielder with his guardians. We've got to send Sora to find the one with infinite wisdom."  
  
"And who would that be?" Asked Cloud.  
  
"His name is Flik. And he's an ant."  
  
Try as he might, Donald couldn't get any sleep at all that night. Something was stopping him from doing so. He knew something was wrong.  
  
He rolled over in his bed and found himself looking into the face of a Powerwild Heartless. His eyes widened in shock, then he looked grumpy.  
  
"Aw, knock it off Goofy. I'm trying to sleep! That mask isn't working, so go away!"  
  
There was no reply, but the face was still there. Suspecting that it was just hung on a post of some sort, Donald peered over, past the ears, over the body, over the tail. A shrill squeak escaped his beak as he realized. This was no practical joke.  
  
"A HEARTLESS! THERE'S A HEARTLESS IN THE BUILDING! GOOFY! A HEARTLESS! A HEARTLESS!" He yelled. Picking up his staff from the bedside, he struck the Powerwild. It evaporated in one hit. That's when he noticed the other Heartless that had been behind it. 


	3. The Problem Is Getting Annoying

"So what did he want?" Merlin asked upon Sora's return to the room, but Sora didn't answer. He wasn't paying attention to anyone except the one person who could help him get through to other worlds. He needed to speak to Cid. The only person from Hollow Bastion who had come back to live in Traverse Town, his argument for doing so being 'I promised that kid I would be there if he needed help!". Well here he was, and he needed help more than he would normally.  
  
He ran for the First District gate, hoping not to be held up by too many Heartless on the way.  
  
Cloud, Leon and Yuffie stood guard at the three entrances to the library as Aerith conjured up a portal that could take them to Traverse Town. The last thing they wanted was for some Gargoyle coming in and disturbing the magic field. Such a thing could put the plan on hold for at least a week, while Aerith regained energy, and they all knew: they didn't have a week.  
  
Yuffie took a moment of her time to look behind and check how the portal was coming along. Registering Aerith's nod as a 'yes, I'm done', she called the others into the room.  
  
Cloud blinked. "You expect us to go through. that?"  
  
"Well sor-ree, Mr. Expectant. What would you have preferred?"  
  
"Something a bit bigger than the sugar mouse I see before me." Cloud sighed. "How do we use it? You don't honestly expect us all to ride it through the time/space continuum without falling off or suffocating from lack of oxygen on the way do you?"  
  
"Something like that." Aerith admitted, shrugging her shoulders. "I hold onto its tail, and you form a chain behind me. I say our destination and it. drags us through the time/space continuum to the location desired."  
  
"Ohhh boy. I am not looking forward to this." Leon groaned, taking hold of Yuffie's hand as they formed the necessary chain. Yuffie squeezed it. She was scared too. Just before they took off, Leon remembered Yuffie's motion sickness capability. Too late.  
  
The mouse took off, filling the room with a bright whiteness as it left.  
  
Goofy ran towards Donald's room. Judging by the noise Donald was making, there were a lot of Heartless in there, at least thirty. All he knew was it was taking a hell of a lot of Thundaga spells to defeat them, and most Heartless could be defeated in a single shot of lightning. This meant there were either many, many small Heartless, or there were a lot of stronger Heartless. Or maybe even a mixture of the two. The thought scared him.  
  
He ran into the room, only to receive an immediate bite from a Darkball. Noticing that the health gauge on his wrist had suddenly decreased by half, he realized that the Heartless were not just many in number, but also incredibly strong compared to what they had been last time he had seen one.  
  
Using his Tornado technique, he slammed into the Darkball multiple times, not giving it time to defend itself. The Heartless collapsed, and he used the spare moment to revive Donald's MP. Donald started to use a volley of Thundaga spells again. The remaining Heartless evaporated, excepting five Wizards, which all countered at the same time with Thunder spells of their own. This battle would require physical skill, rendering Donald pretty useless apart from Curaga magic, which he was using regularly. Goofy charged the nearest Wizard, following it up with yet another Tornado, switching his focus from Wizard to Wizard as each one was destroyed.  
  
Finishing off the last, Goofy allowed himself a sigh of relief, only to withdraw it again as the next wave appeared. 


End file.
